Aftermath: 50,000 Enslaved; Province of Africa Organized
After Carthage’s fall in 146 BCE, roughly 50,000 survivors were enslaved and Rome created the province of Africa with Utica as its capital. The oft-told tale of salting the ruins has no ancient source [12], [17], [10], [11], [16], [23].
What Happened
When the fires dimmed, administration began. Roman officers sorted prisoners, tallied goods, and parceled tasks. About 50,000 people—men, women, and children—were marched to ships and markets, their chains clinking along streets that had once sold purple cloth and grain [12], [17]. Utica, loyal to Rome, became the provincial center, its harbor spared the destruction that flattened Carthage’s cothon. From Utica, governors would manage tax, justice, and defense across fertile Byzacium and beyond. The sound of Latin edicts replaced the hum of Punic petitions [10], [17]. Appian’s record of policy—obliteration orders and bans on habitation—sits alongside later legends that have proven sticky. The salting story, which claims Rome sowed the site with salt, finds no footing in ancient sources. Modern scholars trace it to later embellishment. The actual instruments of erasure were fire, law, and enslavement [10], [11], [16], [23]. Archaeology confirms layers, not salt. The Byrsa’s ruins, the oval military and commercial harbors, and the tophet and necropoleis bear witness to Punic life and death—later overbuilt by Roman baths like the Antonine complex. The color of stone changes by era, but the place endured under new names and rulers [13]. Carthage as an independent actor ended in 146 BCE. Africa as a Roman province began. The Mediterranean map’s western half grew more Roman in law, language, and logistics.
Why This Matters
The immediate impact was human and structural. Mass enslavement depopulated the city; provincial organization integrated Africa’s resources into Roman systems, with Utica as the node [12], [17], [10]. The grain of Africa would feed Romans; the taxes would flow to the aerarium. The outcome completes the siegecraft-to-erasure theme. Rome used conquest to redraw administrative geographies, replacing a rival with a province. Carthage’s wealth now moved under Roman signatures. The myth correction matters for historical method. By distinguishing Appian’s attested obliteration and ban from later salting fables, we see Roman policy as harsh but rationalized—aimed at control, not performative curses [10], [11], [16], [23].
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